FS-2025-0001-237123

I write to urge US Forest Service to keep the Roadless Rule intact exactly as is, utilizing Alternative 1 in the current DEIS. I am a resident of SE Ohio adjacent to the Wayne NF and have been studying and researching forest, climate, and biodiversity issues for thirty years. I have visited many national parks and National Forests and am distressed by their abuse by one administration after another. I am especially concerned about the current proposal, which threatens biodiversity and our remaining intact roadless areas under the pretense of "reducing fire risk" and tailoring "management" to local conditions. This is a ruse to support logging and burning at the expense of unmanaged intact forests, the most resilient type of forests and the most threatened by management. While USDA is using wildfire prevention as an excuse, the reality is that this change is a clear and dangerous boon to the logging industry. Pristine forests, clean water, and important wildlife habitat are all imperiled by this plan. Unfragmented forests are essential for many increasingly threatened and endangered species of animals, plants, and fungi as well as serving climate and biodiversity needs of our rapidly deteriorating biomes. I strongly oppose the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal to repeal or weaken the landmark Roadless Area Conservation Rule that has protected wild, unfragmented forests for more than 25 years The rationale offered for doing so isn’t supported by science. This action would harm rather than protect our national forests. The case for prohibiting road construction and commercial logging in intact forests is just as strong today when U.S.F.S. first enacted this conservation rule. The rule recognizes that roadless areas serve as biological strongholds for imperiled species, that habitat fragmentation harms wildlife, and that intact forests act as essential buffers against the spread of invasive plant species. With more species endangered today and with wildlands disappearing at an increasingly rapid pace, roadless areas are more important than ever to address ongoing wildlife decline and the extinction crisis. Roadless areas within the national forest system also contain all or part of 354 municipal watersheds, supplying drinking water to millions of Americans and saving downstream communities millions of dollars in water-filtration costs. These lands provide outstanding recreation opportunities — hiking, camping, experiencing wildlife, fishing, cross-country skiing, and canoeing. Furthermore, when the original rule was adopted, the agency was already grappling with a multi-billion dollar deferred maintenance backlog on its expansive road system. That backlog remains roughly the same today. Building more roads on top of the nearly 370,000 miles the agency currently manages would only deepen a problem that remains unsolved after 25 years. Importantly, expanding roads into forested landscapes will increase, not decrease, wildfire risk. Research has shown that human-caused ignitions are responsible for the vast majority of wildfires, and are roughly four times more likely to start near roads, due to causes like sparks from vehicles and unattended campfires. I urge the USDA to abandon this misguided proposal and instead reaffirm its commitment to protecting America's roadless forests for the wildlife habitat, clean water, climate resilience, and recreation values they provide to us all.